Improved washing and scouring machine



UNITED STATES PATENT ErreE.

WILLIAM PRICE, OF CINCINNATI', OHIO.

IMPROVED WASHING AND SCOUPLING MACHINE.

Specification forming part 0f Letters Patent No. 441,820, dated October 25, 1864.

To all whom it may concern.-

Beit known that I, WILLIAM PRICE, of the city of Cincinnati, in the county of Hamilton, in the State of Ohio, have invented certain new and usef'ul improvements in thc construction and arrangement of mechanism for the purpose of scouring and cleansing clothes, Woolen goods, and all other textile fabiics;

and I do hereby declare that the following is Fig. 4 shows an end view of the nal box, to allow the rollers to yield to the thickness of the material being cleansed.

lhe object of my invention is to supply the long soi git for implement that will efi i'ectually cleanse woolen goods and other articles of clothing without tearing the garments, breaking or wearing oif the seams and hems, or removing the buttons, Src.

My invent-ion consistsV in the arrangement and comtinafion of pressure feeding-rollers,

- and a higher speed revolving brush, acting against thematerial as it slowly passes over a compensating-roller; also, in the peculiar construction of the double yielding compensating journal-boxes, as applied for the purposes hereinafter described.

To enable others skilled inthe art to make and use my invention, I will describe its construction andits operation more fully, referring to the accompanying drawings and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

I make' a box or vat, A, of wood it may be square or oblong, of any desired depth and dimensions, the same being set up and mounted on legs a a, so as to be of a convenient height to operate easily. In the vatA on each side is placed longitudinally with the sides additional sides B B, which form the frame or support for the journal-boxes of the revolving brush O and the compensating journal-boxes for thepressure-rollers cand el, as also the driving-rollerb. The two sides B B are connected together by au inclinedleaf or table D,made of hardwood, upon which the article to be scoured and cleansed is placed, so as to be fed in between the rollers b and c, when it passes over the hand-roller d, where it comes in contact with the brush c' c", which is made to revolve at a much higher rate of speed than the article is carried in by the rollers, so that while the portion ot' the garment or fabric is resting on or passing slowly over the hard roller d the brush is operating briskly on its surface, and comparatively a small portion of the article is presented at the time, so that the dirt or any extraneous matter is easily removed, and the yielding nature of bristles, of which brushes are usually made, operate over seams and buttons without damage to the one or removing the other.

The machine is put in motion and easily operated by the crank E. The brush C and rollers b c may be driven by spur gear-wheels,

@,f, g, and It, as seen in Fig. 4, or they may have the same motion and speed imparted to theirdistinctive parts and perform the same functions by a single band passing over and around grooved pulleys, in the place of the gear-wheels.

For the purpose of allowing the various thicknesses of the articles to be cleansed to pass in between the rollers and present a uniform resistance to the action of the revolving brush, I make a compensating double-acting spring journal-box, H, as seen in Fig. 5, the journal of the roller c being fixed, and the journal of the roller d', being supported by a movable box, lr, and held up to bear by the spiral spring t', the whole being pivoted to the frame B B in recesses m on the outside, where it yields to the pressure against the spiral springs i, and thus act uniformly on various thicknesses.

The entire working mechanism is made so as to be taken out by lifting the frame B B, (there being grooves for theends to slide into,) so that all ofthe parts can be raised off and dried, and the machine kept in perfect order.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. The arrangement and combination of the 2. The construction of the double yielding presser feedingroliers, and a high-speed recompensating journal-boxes, appliud for the voiving-brush, the same acting upon the mapurposes herein setl forth.` tcrial, as it slowllsfY passes over a eompensat- WILLIAM PRICE. ing-roller in the manner as, and for the pur- Witnesses: pose speoied, and in combination with the EDM. F. BROWN, above. A J. B. WOODRUFF. 

